Diana Vishneva

From Vishneva’s formidable technique to her musicality, her exquisite purity of style and her sheer artistry, she cannot be beaten.

The Financial Times

…Ask me to break down what exactly Vishneva does to bring that about, dancing the same steps thousands of ballerinas have danced before her, and I'm at a loss. Better to ask by what measure of glue, wood and design a Stradivarius gets its tone.

Diana Vishneva was born in Leningrad. She graduated from the Vaganova Ballet Academy (class of Professor Lyudmila Kovaleva). During her last year at the Academy she also trained at the Mariinsky Theatre. Diana Vishneva joined the Mariinsky Ballet Company in 1995, and has been a Mariinsky Theatre soloist since 1996. Diana Vishneva frequently performs at the Europe's most prestigious venues. In 2001 she made her debut at the Bayerisches Staatsballett (Kenneth MacMillan's Manon) and at the Teatro alla Scala (Aurora in Rudolf Nureyev's version of The Sleeping Beauty), while in 2002 she appeared at the Opéra de Paris (Kitri in Rudolf Nureyev's version of Don Quixote). In 2003 came her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York (Juliet in Kenneth Macmillan's version of Romeo and Juliet).

Since 2002 she has appeared as a guest soloist at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden (Berlin), performing the principal roles in the ballets Giselle, La Bayadère, Swan Lake (Patrice Bart's version), Maurice Béjart's Ring um den Ring, Manon and The Sleeping Beauty. Since 2005–2017 she also was a guest soloist with American Ballet Theatre, performing in the ballets Swan Lake, Giselle, Don Quixote, Manon, Romeo and Juliet, Ballet Imperial, The Sleeping Beauty, The Dream and La Bayadère). At American Ballet Theatre Diana Vishneva has performed lead roles in the ballets Sylvia and Thaïs Pas de deux (choreography by Frederick Ashton), On the Dniepr (choreography by Alexei Ratmansky), La Dame aux camélias (choreography by John Neumeier) and Onegin (choreography by John Cranko). Diana Vishneva frequently works with renowned contemporary choreographers and stage directors. In 2005 at the Mariinsky Theatre came the premiere of Petr Zuska's ballet Les Bras de mer, staged specially for Diana Vishneva. In 2007 Andrei Moguchy and Alexei Kononov staged the production Silenzio. Diana Vishneva. In February 2008, Diana Vishneva together with Ardani Artists Management and the Orange County Performing Arts Center presented the programme Beauty in Motion (Alexei Ratmansky's Pierrot Lunaire, Dwight Rhoden's Three Point Turn and Moses Pendleton's F.L.O.W.).

In March 2011 the Mariinsky Theatre staged a premiere of the ballet Le Parc (choreography by Angelin Preljocaj) featuring Diana Vishneva. In October the same year the ballerina presented the project Diana Vishneva: Dialogues, run with support from the Mariinsky Theatre, the Diana Vishneva Foundation and Ardani Artists. 2013 saw the premiere of the project Diana Vishneva: On the Edge, the programme of which included Jean-Christophe Maillot’s ballet Switch and Carolyn Carlson’s Woman in a Room.